Multi-stage operation type air conditioner

Abstract

A multi-stage operation type air conditioner which can be operated in various cooling or heating capacities. The multi-stage operation type air conditioner includes a first discharge port, a first opening / closing device for opening or closing the first discharge port, a second discharge port having a size different from that of the first discharge port, a second opening / closing device for opening or closing the second discharge port, and a controller for controlling the air conditioner such that the air conditioner may be operated with one of the first and second discharge ports opened, in an operation with a lower cooling or heating load, and the air conditioner may be operated with both the first and second discharge ports opened, in an operation with a higher cooling or heating load.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION [0001] This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2004-35195, filed on May 18, 2004 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] An apparatus consistent with the present invention relates to a multi-stage operation type air conditioner and, more particularly, to a multi-stage operation type air conditioner, which is able to operate with a variety of cooling or heating capacities. [0004] 2. Description of the Related Art [0005] Generally, a conventional air conditioner consists of one indoor unit and one outdoor unit. The indoor unit is equipped with an indoor heat exchanger for exchanging the heat of air in a room, and with a discharge port for discharging chilled air in the indoor unit to the outside of the indoor unit. The outdoor unit is equipped with a compressor for compressing a refriger...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0012] In accordance with one aspect, the present invention provides a multi-stage operation air conditioner, comprising: a first discharge port; a first opening / closing device which opens or closes the first discharge port; a second discharge port having a size different from that of the first discharge port; a second opening / closing device which opens or closes the second discharge port; and a controller which controls the air conditioner such that when being operated with a lower cooling or heating load, the air conditioner may be operated with one of the first and second discharge ports opened, and when being operated with a lower cooling or heating load, the air conditioner may be operated with both the first and second discharge ports opened.

Problems solved by technology

However, such a conventional air conditioner has a problem in that, since a degree of variation in cooling or heating capacity by changing the number of rotations of the compressor and the number of rotations of the blowing fan is small, an appropriate cooling or heating according to a variation of cooling or heating load cannot be performed.

On the contrary, in a case where the air conditioner is equipped for cooling or heating only one room, and the room is partitioned into two small rooms, the air conditioner performs a cooling or heating operation for one small room with a compressor having a compressing capacity larger than the compressing capacity needed for the small room, and with a heat exchanger having a heat exchanging capacity larger than the heat exchanging capacity needed for the small room, thereby consuming an unnecessary amount of energy.

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